Page 140 of Emerald Vices

There’s no time to discuss the depths of this nightmare or the fear squeezing my lungs. All I can do is ask the only question that matters: “Where is she?”

“She’s in a shed around the back of the property. We found Grigory.”

“Lead the way.”

Turning on his heel, Misha runs in the direction of the bronze gate I spied earlier.

My heels pounding into the dirt hurt. Hell, just breathing hurts. Ignoring the hitch in my throat and the pain searing down my sides, I keep running until we’re closing in on the bronze gate.

Misha slips through the thin opening of the gate, and I go to follow him, but before I can, a hail of bullets scythes through the air, missing my face by mere inches. My ears are ringing from the gunfire as I throw myself to the ground to avoid the second round.

Misha twists around, his eyes wide as he stares at me through the narrow bars of the bronze gate.

“Go!” I yell at him. “Protect them! I’m right behind you!”

Misha hesitates, but my concentration is stolen by the two men advancing on me with their weapons raised. The man in front has ice-blue eyes, burning bright amidst the swirling red ash. “Your head will fetch me a nice reward, Kuznetsov.”

He doesn’t wait for my response as he levels his gun at me.

Before he can pull the trigger, a furry rocket darts out of the smog. With a ferocious growl, Remi lands on the man’s chest and sinks his canines into his face. There’s a second of earsplitting shrieking before he goes silent.

Horrified by his comrade’s half-eaten face, the other man tries to run. But I put two of my bullets in his back, not staying to watch what happens after he drops onto the sand.

I make a run for the bronze gates when more Rostov soldiers start materializing in the distance. I’m abandoning my own troops, and fuck only knows where Shura and Leonty are by now. It’s just me and Misha, and I have no choice but to put all my faith in the boy.

With a grimace, I squeeze through the gates.

Don’t let me down, son.

59

NATALIA

“You’re lying.”

Nikolai throws his head back and laughs. “Why would I lie now? I have you and your runt right where I want you.”

He keeps moving closer, and I skitter back. It’s not all in fear. Every step back I take, I’m one step closer to my son.

I can just about see over the worn edges of the crate. Grigory has thrown off his blanket and one chubby hand lifts into the air as though he’s waving to me.

“Whatever he may have said to you, Misha has always been my man.” Nikolai stands between me and the only exit out of this death shed. Viktor joins him, pale and sweaty. He looks like a parasite who’s latched onto Nikolai. “Who do you think informed me that you were pregnant?”

It’s not true. Misha wouldn’t do that to me. He couldn’t.

Despite the sweat trickling down my back, I feel cold. “Yelena was informing on me.”

He snorts. “You really think she was my only plant?”

“Misha hated Yelena. He’s the one who figured out she was spying.”

“You idiot woman, it was all an act,” Nikolai hisses. “I sacrificed one spy in favor of the other.”

It doesn’t make any sense… except it could. Couldn’t it?

I’m teetering on the edge, clinging to the deep roots of my love for my son when I see a shadow in the tiny gap of the door. Misha’s face appears in the space, his hair matted with sweat.

He looks me right in the eye… and winks.

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